Northern California

Rock climbers in Northern California will be hard pressed to find a better climbing area than Lassen National Park near Redding. This park features a 10,000-foot volcanic dome, hot springs and a variety of crags that are excellent for climbing. The largest crag in the park is known as Bellybutton, and it has cracks for good footing up to 165 feet. Eagle Peak is a great cold weather climbing area because it is often sun drenched, which makes climbing in cooler weather quite comfortable.

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Joshua Tree National Park is a wonderland of rocks and high desert scenery. This is one of the most famous rock climbing areas in the United States with over 4500 climbing routes to choose from.  Our time will be focused on learning and practicing the sport of rock climbing while enjoying the pleasures of desert camping.  This Joshua Tree Rock Climbing trip is specifically geared towards the first time outdoor climber.  We will start off with the basics and by the end of the weekend you will be amazed at what you have learned and accomplished.

Joshua Tree National Park is a classic winter retreat for climbers of all levels. The colors, the plant-life, the animals and the rock in the high Mohave Desert culminate to create an absolutely breathtaking experience. The timeless desert beauty of Joshua Tree is unparalleled. This 4000 foot-high desert plateau is a rock climber’s playground. The combination of the Southern Californian weather, pleasant camping and the countless boulders, cliff-faces and rock outcroppings come together to create one of the most sought-after climbing destinations in America.

Climbers are deeply engaged by the somewhat unique rock that the area offers. The crystalline quartz monzonite that makes up most of the features in the area provides some of the highest quality of rock for climbing, with sharp edges, abundant cracks, and a very high friction factor. Whether your interest is low-to-the-ground bouldering or multi-pitch lead climbing, the abundance of rock throughout the park is overwhelming, and not surprisingly, many lines remain unclimbed.

Yet for all the attraction of its rock, the big draw of Joshua Tree is the pleasant climate. From October through May, Joshua Tree is a rock climber’s paradise, with convenient and pleasant car camping located right next to many of the climbing areas. Located less than a three hour drive from Los Angeles and less than an hour from Palm Springs, a few days of instruction and climbing in Joshua Tree is a great mid-winter break from the snow and frigid winds found in most of the rest of the country.

Joshua Tree National Park at a Glance

• Courses and guided ascents available from October through May
• Easy access from many major metropolitan areas throughout the Southwest
• Sign-up for a course or for private instruction/guiding
• Absolutely beautiful camping available
• Easy access from hotels and motels in Twentynine Palms and the town of Joshua Tree
• Courses and private instruction available at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels

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If you are searching for great places to rock climb for beginners, we have found a local place that might be perfect for you. Now let’s break down the greatness of one of our favorite indoor gyms, Top Out Climbing located in Santa Clarita, CA. Top Out thrives at making their location, not just a gym but a community. There is no better place for a beginner to practice climbing technique, than an indoor gym that requires no belay partner or testing. It mostly consists of bouldering areas, but it offers a great variety of top rope routes. They have 7 “auto-belay” machines that make it easy for those who do not have a partner. Each auto-belay machine offers a variety of routes that range in all levels from beginner to advance. If you still don’t know your knots or how to belay, not a problem – it is not required for you to know them, because they have machines that allow you to clip-and-go, which makes them the great place for beginners to start learning technique. You can also rent a harness, shoes and chalk bag for a small fee.

When it comes to climbing outdoors for beginners there are two options; (1) Find a climbing friend (and if he/she is not your friend – MAKE them your friend) that has extra gear (if you don’t have any), experience, knowledge, skills, and can take you with them to local places that offer easy routes. (2) Hire a company (like us heehee) to take you out for a guided tour, or better yet – a beginner’s class, so you can learn how to tie in to a rope, how to belay a partner, and all the other information that you would need to pass an indoor gym test with confidence. Rock Climb Every Day thrives at making beginners feel welcome and become part of the climbing community. All gear and equipment rentals (shoes, harness, and helmets) are included in the different packages offered.

Where ever you decide to go, indoor or outdoor, make sure that your local facility or company provides the community environment that helps promote learning, making new friends, and being a safe climber. Most places will have the walls, machines and equipment you need, but having that personal friendly atmosphere makes all the difference in finding great places to rock climb for beginners.

Climb on and stay safe!

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Most try rock climbing and once they like the sport enough to invest in it, they start shopping for gear around town or online. Like I mentioned on a previous post, “Spending a little, saves you a lot…”, it is in the best practices to purchase your own equipment.

Beginner Rock Climbers

The first few items a beginner rock climber often buys are a rock climbing shoes, a harness, a belay device and a locking carabiner. For some reason, beginners stop here, because they do not feel confident enough to have sufficient information regarding what rope length, rope diameter, or even rope brand to get. Most beginner rock climbers go indoors to practice their technique. While they develop their skill, they find time to do research or ask around others who own ropes (if you haven’t started this process, you should start now). Others go outside with friends that already have equipment to test the different ropes and make a more educated decision based on feel, look, or others’ opinions of ropes. As a beginner, it is your responsibility to find that rope that works best for your needs.

Intermediate Rock Climbers

Intermediate rock climbers are those who move on building natural anchors, pro anchors, and fixed anchors. Also know sport lead, trad lead, and lead belay. At this point, we hear the same question once again: What gear will I need to rock climb? Move on to reviewing and purchasing anchoring gear such as; locking carabiners, slings, cordelettes, webbing, static rope, cords, etc. All you will need, will depend on the specific areas you want to climb. Then move on to purchasing sport lead gear such as 10-15 quick draws (depending on the routes you are going to climb). For Trad Lead the bills start rolling out of control with things such as; cams, tri-cams, more slings, a sling to carry all your Trad gear, a good pack, etc.

Advanced Rock Climbers

Advanced Rock Climbers train hard to keep themselves fit enough and study to be educated on the overall sport of rock climbing. Pulling a hard or difficult climb does not put you in this category. Advanced rock climbers spend good amount of time educating themselves on more than just how to move your feet or pull a crimpy 5.12b. Becoming an advance rock climber requires patience and dedication, reading and hands on training of wilderness awareness and first aid, self-rescue and rescue techniques. In this category, just like at the intermediate level, advanced rock climbers spend time and money on training, certifications, and even more equipment such as; first aid kits, extra ropes, and anything else you can possibly need during an emergency.

No matter what level of climber you are, the information on what equipment you need, is always going to be available to you – all you have to do is ask or search online. This all goes hand in hand with another previous blog post’ “Rock Climbing…Educate yourself”. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Stay safe.

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From beginning to end… there is a lot of information to be learned and practiced with each step you take in your climbing routine and preference. You can choose to stay at a certain level, or choose to move on to learning more things. If you choose to stay in the middle, that is ok too – climbing is an individual choice and every person needs to follow their level and preference, but even if it is not your preference to move forward in your climbing routine, it is best to know as much information as possible so that you can be well prepared to help someone else in case of an emergency. Take an even bigger step and learn rescue, or how to rescue yourself. With limits, you will still be able to climb many routes, at many different locations. When you choose to move up on the learning curve, what you will gain is a higher amount of options and an even safer environment for you and everyone else around you. So when you ask yourself ,”What rock climbing class should I take?” take all that matters into consideration.

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We encourage you to do the same with your climbing routine. Educate yourself in the rock climbing field. Get into the habit of educating yourself in the physical, mental and technical aspects of the sport. It is important, if not vital, to be as knowledgeable as it is possible when your life is dangling on a rope or on someone else’s hands.

Get out and learn, take a class (indoors or outdoors), make it a habit to continue learning as much as you can handle at one, then do it again, and improve yourself in, not just one, but all aspects of your rock climbing skills.

Someone once told me, “I was nearly killed due to an inexperienced person volunteering to belay me . . .” There are many articles written on injuries and deaths, due to negligence and inexperience. So, if you value your life and others around you, educate yourself in rock climbing, furthermore on how to keep you and those around you safe. Is always fun to climb, until someone gets hurt. Don’t let that next person be you.

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Once you have mastered the proper technique it is time to move on to learning new things, such as building anchors so that you can set up top ropes outdoors. Anchors, are those systems you build to be able to climb on Top Rope. The amount of information you learn during this period is much more extensive than what you would learn on a beginner’s class. It is important that you have had enough practice time as a beginner, before you decide to move on to taking an anchors class. Taking the information in one-step-at-a-time is always best than trying to rush into doing it all at once, getting overwhelmed, then making a mistake that can cost your life or someone else’s. By the time you are prepared to build anchors, everything you learned as a beginner should come naturally, without much effort. Still at this point, you can only build anchors on a route that can be reached by means of walking, hiking, or scrambling. Which means any route you want to set up, will need to have easy walking access.

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